Bookkeeping and financials for a detailing business
Most detailers know their revenue and almost none know their margin per service. A $1,300 coating that ties up a bay for three days can earn less per hour than four $260 interiors, and you cannot see that without books that separate the two lines.
The categories that matter here are specific: chemicals and pads per job, labor hours per vehicle, bay or van costs, card processing, and marketing as a percentage of revenue. Healthy shops run roughly 5% to 10% of revenue on marketing. If you do not know your number, you cannot tell whether an ad budget is aggressive or timid.
The usual mess is one bank account for everything and a shoebox of receipts in April. It costs real money in missed deductions and it turns every marketing decision into a guess.
After two weeks you should have clean books for the last full month and a one-page profit and loss you can read.